This year we have been tracking the evolution of healthcare in the United States under the Trump administration, from the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) bills failing to pass through Congress, the expiration of the Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) which covers 9 million children—many of whom have chronic health conditions—to Executive Orders undermining the Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) to the effect of destabalizing the insurance markets, causing confusion among consumers and higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs. More recently the U.S. Congress has been focused on tax reform, though critics have described efforts […]
Tag: out-of-pocket costs
ACA Open Enrollment
The Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) Health Insurance Marketplace begins its fifth Open Enrollment period today. American healthcare consumers can sign up on the federal insurance exchange at healthcare.gov or through their state marketplaces. This year, there is increased confusion and anxiety surrounding Open Enrollment due to changes (and attempted changes) made to the ACA under the Trump administration. Previous years Open Enrollment period ran 90 days after November 1 until the end of January but has been cut to 45 days this year unless you qualify for the Special Enrollment Period, extending the enrollment period by an […]
Changes to the ACA in the New Administration
In a previous blog post, we explored the proposed replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA; aka Obamacare) known as the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Since then, the bill has been indefinitely tabled after it could not secure the required number of votes to pass the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to the new full law being proposed and pulled, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced changes to the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The new changes include some long-considered ideas to improve the law, including strengthening rules for those signing up for insurance outside the open-enrollment […]
Out-of-Pocket Costs on the Rise
NeedyMeds’ mission has always been to help patients find help covering the costs of health care expenses. A previous guest post from Consumer Reports outlined the problem patients may face when confronted with expensive prescriptions, sometimes having to choose between needed medicine and groceries for their family. Two recent studies show that the problem may be growing as out-of-pocket costs for health care are continuing to rise. According to a study from TransUnion Healthcare, the consumer’s share of healthcare costs rose by 13% from 2014 to 2015. The report also shows that while costs rose, patients had fewer resources […]